Alicia Witt

Actor

Born: 21 August 1975

Birthplace: Worcester, Massachusetts

Best known as: Co-star of TV's Cybill

Actress Alicia Witt combines willowy good looks with a reputation for braininess. She was home-schooled and received her high school degree at age 14, all the while training and performing as a classical pianist. Child prodigy stories abound, including Witt allegedly writing a letter to Good Housekeeping magazine at age 2 and reciting Shakespeare on TV at age 4. She caught the attention of David Lynch, who cast her in Dune (1984) and, later, Twin Peaks (1990). Between 1995 and 1998 Witt played daughter Zoey Woodbine in the CBS sitcom Cybill and popped up in feature films such as Mr. Holland's Opus (1995, with Terrence Howard) and Citizen Ruth (1996). She has appeared in a number of oddball movies, including the John Waters film Cecil B. Demented (2000, starring Melanie Griffith) and the Tom Cruise headscratcher Vanilla Sky (2001, with Penelope Cruz). A reliable supporting player, she has also been in Two Weeks Notice (2002, with Sandra Bullock), The Upside of Anger (2005, with Keri Russell) and the 2007 thriller 88 Minutes (starring Al Pacino and Leelee Sobieski). She joined the cast of TV's Law & Order: Criminal Intent for its seventh season, in the fall of 2007.

Extra credit: Witt's mother has been listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having hair over 12 feet long.